B.C. BLOWOUT
Sask. loses Canada Cup
Undefeated Saskatchewan headed into Monday’s twilight Canada Cup finale against British Columbia with revenge on its mind, getting one step closer to an elusive gold medal after disappointment one year earlier.
But B. C. had other thoughts, obviously.
Those two teams met late Monday night in the 2015 Canada Cup championship final at Cairns in Saskatoon, where an extra-inning bronze medal game between Ontario and Quebec pushed the schedule behind by nearly 80 minutes.
British Columbia built up a 10-1 lead through five innings and hung on for a convincing 10-1 win.
B.C. rocked starting Saskatchewan pitcher Danny Berg for five hits and four runs, two of them unearned, to take an early lead. The left-handed Berg had some tough luck early right off the when the leadoff hitter stretched out an infield single, the ball just eluding the grasp of the pitcher coming off the mound.
It only snowballed from there as British Columbia added two more runs in the second, one in the third and three in the fourth to take a commanding 10-1 lead as Spencer Davis and Devon Schultz relieved Berg but did not fare any better.
Saskatchewan’s misfortunes were compounded by a handful of errors as fly balls were lost in the lights on more than one occasion.
British Columbia was aided by a home run and 3-for-3 performance by Tyler Duncan and a 4-for-5 hitting display by Kobe Morris, who had two RBIs.
B.C. starter Tyler Hoefer had a no-hitter going through five innings before Berg hit a single in the sixth.
Saskatchewan returned nine players from last year’s squad, which suffered a 3-1 loss to B.C. in the 2014 semifinal. To add insult to injury, British Columbia turned a bases-loaded triple-play to snuff out a Saskatchewan rally before going on to win gold.
The Saskies went on to finish fourth in the 2014 Canada Cup after a 11-2 whipping at the hands of Quebec.
Saskatchewan was looking for only its second gold medal through 27 years of Canada Cup history. Saskatchewan entered this year’s tournament with only five medals in 26 years, including one gold.
Host Saskatchewan advanced to Monday’s goldmedal finale after a 4-3 comeback win over Ontario late Monday morning at Cairns Field.
The Saskies trailed 3-zip after three innings but clawed their way back with one in the fourth and two in the fifth to knot the score.
Saskatchewan ended up winning it with the go-ahead run in the final inning when Bryce Rueve’s RBI single scored Brody Frerichs.
Bronze medal final
Ontario 10, Quebec 9 (extra innings)
In a crazy bronze-medal final, Ontario edged out Quebec 10-9 following two extra innings of play.
It was a roller-coaster affair which saw Quebec quickly jump out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Quebec led 7-2 going into the bottom of the fifth inning but Ontario scored two in the bottom of the fifth, three more in the sixth and then added the tying run in the bottom of the seventh to force exta innings.
Ontario was trailing 9-8 and down to its last out when Luke Turino smacked a triple deep to centre field. He scored the tying run on an infield hit by Brad Aldred when Quebec’s third baseman Raphael John LeBlanc overthrew the first baseman by a mile.
Ontario went on to win it in the bottom of the ninth when pitcher Deric Lamontagne’s wild pitch hit batter Alex Sechopoulos to walk in teammate Matthew Brash from third with the bases loaded.
Quebec won the bronze medal in 2014 over Saskatchewan.